EUs og Danmarks Balkanpolitikmå lægges om nu

EU’s og Danmarks USA-afhængige Balkanpolitik vil lede til nye katastrofer på Balkan. Det viser Helveg Petersens ulykkelige konflikt med den jugoslaviske opposition, mener fredsforskeren Jan Øberg.

På forsiden af Berlingske Tidende kunne man den 10. september læse at udenrigsministrene Helveg Petersen og Robin Cook stod bag en “storstilet politisk EU-plan” for samarbejde med oppositionen i Jugoslavien. Som modydelse for jævnlige konsultationer, eksperthjælp, støtte til demokratisering, økonomisk hjælp, mulig lettelse af sanktionerne og andre EU-bidrag skulle oppositionen dernede garantere, at når den kom til magten ville den lovgive for og respektere menneskerettigheder, en fri presse og demokratiske valg.

På det første møde i Luxembourg den 11. oktober kom ingen af de vigtigste oppositionelle. Begge udenrigsministre mener at alt som sædvanligt er Milosevic’ skyld og at han har truet dem til at blive væk. Dette uaget at det Demokratiske Partis leder Zoran Djindjic da han hørte dette i Beograd igår svarede at han personligt skulle ringe til Cook og orientere ham om at det var deres egen og ikke Milosevic’s beslutning.

En ledende oppositionel og fredskvinde i Beograd sendte mig dette samme aften:

“Ønsker Vesten at modarbejde en forenet opposition? Vi presses nu fra alle sider, hvordan skal vi kæmpe i fremtiden, når Vesten i den grad begår fejltrin? Vi har styrken og evnen, viljen og kundskaben til at skabe et seriøst, ægte demokratisk samfund. Alt hvad vi behøver er en chance! Vi behøver støtte fra mennesker, der ser os som ligeværdige og som respekterer at vi, bedre end de, véd hvad der er brug for i vort land. Dette EU-initiativ undervurderer os komplet.”

Dette er sagen i en nøddeskal. Det er alt for sent at foregive at Europas regeringer har nogen som helst respekt for menneskene i dagens Jugoslavien. De må se initiativet, uanset de måske gode motiver bag det, som en fornærmelse. Årsagerne skal vi finde mellem 1991 og i dag.

I 1991 indførte Vesten sanktioner mod kun Jugoslavien og suspenderede landets medlemsskab af OSCE, FN m.m. Hverken Slobodan Milosevic eller ledereliten omkring ham blev ramt af det; de vandt på det politisk og økonomisk. Taberne blev de sagesløse indbyggere, inklusive gamle og børn. Krigene og USAs og EUs “konflikthåndtering” i Kroatien, Bosnien og senest i Kosovo har sendt 900.000 flygtninge til Serbien siden 1995. Og på toppen har NATO’s folkeretsstridige aggression krænket hvert eneste af landets godt 10 millioner, dræbt 2000 civile – hvis pårørende for øvrigt ikke har fået hverken undskyldning eller kompensation – og forvoldt skader for henved 500 milliarder kroner. Det gør derfor kun ondt værre når udenrigsministeren og andre NATO-politikere siger at “vi har ingen konflikt med Jugoslaviens folk.”

Det er amerikansk politik at: a) menneskene skal tvinges yderligere i knæ og – forventer man helt urealistiskt – gøre oprør; at b) destabilisere den iøvrigt lovligt valgte regering ved hjælp af bl.a. CIA-indsatser (Operation Matrix) og en kombineret udsending for såvel Kosovo som destabilisering af resten af Serbien, Robert S. Gelbard, at c) fastholde sanktioner og diplomatisk isolering og endelig at d) gøre Kosovo til en i praksis selvstændig republik (og vestlig militærbase).

Intet af dette kan ikke ske uden et større eller mindre politiskt-militært sammenbrud og deraf flydende økonomisk-humantær katastrofe i Jugoslavien, måske allerede denne vinter, måske senere. Om det går rigtigt galt kan en borgerkrigslignende situation få NATO at rulle fra Kosovo (der nu er etnisk temmeligt rent og derfor fremover næppe behøver mere end nogle få tusind soldater) op i resten af Serbien.

Det véd man formodentlig godt i EU-kredse. Og det er EU, der i første række skal bære den økonomiske byrde efter NATOs og de lokale voldsudgydelser, ligesom det er til EU-lande og måske Ungarn og Bulgarien eventuelt nye flygtninge i ti- eller hundredtusindvis, denne gang fra Serbien, vil strømme. Dette er et værre mareridt for EU end forårets humanitære katastrofe.

Det er værd at bemærke at i hvert fald dele af EU-initiativet har mødt kraftig modstand i USA, nemlig pilotprojektet om olieleverancer til ‘demokratisk ledede byer’ som Nis. Hvis man et øjeblik betænker de praktiske fordelingspolitiske omstændigheder må det forblive en gåde hvordan man i praksis ville sikre at denne olie kun skulle gå til oppositionelle lejligheder i centralt opvarmede boligkomplekser. Men den kunne naturligvis hentes i alt fra Colaflasker til tankvogne af private villaejere – altså de relativt bedst stillede, der netop er blevet dét fordi de opererer på dét gråsorte marked, otte års sanktioner naturligt har skabt. Nis’ borgmester var således fornuftig nok til at sige pænt nej tak til EU’s invitation.

Men en anden ting har sneget sig ind, der ikke stod i Berlingerne for en måned siden: de inviterede gæster skulle love at udlevere den krigsforbrydermistænkte Milosevic til Haag. Hvad Vesten selv ikke har “kunnet” gøre i årevis med mistænkte som Karadzic i Bosnien, skal civile oppositionelle tvinges til i Beograd! En rimelig tolkning er at dette absurde stykke er noget EU-landene har følt sig tvunget af Washington at stoppe ind i “kontrakten” uden at have forstået at lige netop dét ovenpå alle dens andre uspiselige ting skulle blive det sidste søm i initiativets ligkiste. Hvad der formentlig lige netop er hvad Washington ønskede. Konklusion: Helveg og Cook har skoret selvmål til både USA og Milosevic.

Krigsforbryderhistorien er et kapitel for sig, men to ting er relevante hér: kun få véd at der ligger der en tiltale for krigsforbrydelser mod Helveg Petersen selv, vor statsminister og forsvarsminister sammen med NATO’s øvrige politiske og militære på Haag-tribunalets bord, indleveret af kyndige jurister fra en række lande. Juristerne i Haag og NATOs regeringskredse skal dog nok bruge en del energi på at få den afvist på forhånd.

For det andet, de der har læst tiltalen mod Milosevic vil vide at den ejendommeligt nok kun omfatter hvad han måtte have stået bag siden 1. januar 1999, herunder at han gøres ansvarlig for 340 albaneres død, men ikke for hvad han måtte have stået bag siden 1991, da krigene brød ud. Hvis man havde tiltalt ham for hele perioden ville Vesten have erkendt at det havde samarbejdet med en formodet krigsforbryder hele tiden og, formentlig have haft svært ved ikke også at tiltale Kroatiens og Bosniens ledere. Selv tror jeg at Milosevic kan tage det med knusende ro, ingen i Vest vil have ham eller de andre serbere levende til Haag, for dér kunne de fortælle et og andet om Vestens politik. Så alt dette er ren menneskerettigheds-PR.

Hvis EU havde intellektuel kraft og ledere med civilcourage havde man istedet ophævet sanktionerne nu; det er også netop blevet foreslået af Jiri Dienstbier, FN Højkommisariat for Menneskeretigheder, men han citeres ikke ofte i vestlig presse. Dernæst have man respektere grundprincippet om at kun det demokrati folk selv skaber er holdbart og endelig – stiltiende – givet pokker i den barnlige amerikanske idé om selektiv, politisk udpegning af krigsforbrydere. Dermed kunne en ny fase indledes, som Jugoslaviens folk ville have en vis tillid til.

I Kosovo går tingene skidt udfra de målsætninger, Vesten selv opstillede. Ingen, siger ingen – véd hvad man skal stille op med provinsen på længere sigt. EU er nu helt “Balkaniseret”, dets politik er et sammelsurium af manøvrer og PR-initiativer, der skal opretholde illusionen om fælles fodslag og lægge låg på en hemmelighed, der er sivet ud: EU er både internt splittet og i dyb konflikt med USA, men man har passeret det sidste sporskifte. Javier Solana, der skal stå for EU’s fælles udenrigs- og sikkerhedspolitik, var den der politiskt ledede NATOs dåreagtige ødelæggelse af dén psykologiske kraft og dét civile samfund, der udgør grunden for demokratiseringsprocessen.

Folk i Serbien kan faktisk godt se at den Helveg Petersen og den Cook, der som NATO-udenrigsministre hørte til de ivrigste bombefortalere og i denne rolle indirekte samarbejder med USA/CIA, er de samme som nu byder på samarbejde som EU-udenrigsministre. Fra den 24. marts er hverken “verdensordenen” eller Europa/EU det samme. De balkanske brøleres boomerang er på vej tilbage til Vesten selv. Balkans situation er den enkeltfaktor, der har størst indflydelse på Europas egen fremtid og dets relation til USA, Rusland og Kina. Hvor galt skal det går før vi erkender det og lægger kursen om? Hvor længe skal Balkan være forsøgskanin for EU og offer for spillet mellem EU og USA?

Atter er det helt fornuftige mennesker, der betaler prisen for en eneste ting: at beslutningtagere, der har ophøjet sig selv til dommere og konfliktløsere på andres vegne, ikke kan indrømme at de for år tilbage gjorde en fejlagtig diagnose og derfor har foretaget operationer, der medfører at patienten langsomt vil dø – alt imens de tager storstilede “initiativer” til nye behandlinger for at skjule deres egen angst for fremtiden og bevidshed om medansvar for tragediens historie.

Peace & future researcher + ‌Art Photographer

Related Posts

The Challenge of Nuclear Weaponsin the Twenty-first CenturyA Path Forward The peoples and governments of the world face an urgent challenge relating to weaponry of mass destruction and particularly to nuclear weaponry.  At the crossroads of technology, terrorism, geopolitical ambition, and policies of preemption are new and potent dangers for humanity. Despite ending the nuclear standoff of the Cold War era, nuclear weaponry is again menacing the peoples of the world with catastrophic possibilities.  We recognize the need for any government to pursue its security interests in accordance with international law; and further, we recognize that distinctive threats to these interests now exist as a result of an active international terrorist network having declared war on the United States and its allies. Nonetheless, we reject the assessment of the current US administration that upgrading a reliance on nuclear weapons is in any sense justified as a response. We find it...
LONDON – I walk up Sonia Gandhi’s drive way, past  guards with Uzi machine guns, and can’t help thinking that when I came to interview Mrs. Indira Gandhi (Sonia’s mother-in-law) on the eve of her great comeback and massive electoral win, I walked up to her front door and knocked. There were no guards and only one servant to let me in. I am ushered into Sonia G’s office. She barely acknowledges my presence. “Buon giorno”, I say. There is no reply. I have been warned that she’s cold and she doesn’t offer me a hand. She walks over to me and asks me to sit down. I look her in the eye and ask my first question to the Italian widow of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was cruelly blown to smithereens by a female Tamil terrorist, a member of the now defeated Tamil independence struggle in neighbouring Sri...
Om Afghanistan Af Ulla Fasting,TFF Ven og medlem af Det Radikale Venstre Læs også Ulla Fastings “Indtryk fra Afghanistan” Dag 1 Afghanistan ved en ny tids begyndelse I denne uge tager vi til Afghanistan, som jeg har besøgt to gange i sommer og hvor jeg samtidig læste Khaled Hosseinis bog* om sin barndoms Afghanistan. En barndom, hvor drengen Amir vinder den store drageturnering og sin fars anerkendelse, men samtidig svigter sin bedste ven Hassan. Det er dette svigt og vejen til soning, bogen handler om, men den fortæller også om det Afghanistan, som var før den russiske besættelse og før Taleban kom til magten.Det er det Afghanistan, som i dag skyder op hist og her og som mange afghanere forsøger at bygge en fremtid på. Bogen er god at have med sig, for i manges bevidsthed er Afghanistan kun det 6. fattigste land i verden, talebansk mørke, kvinder i burka,...

Recent Articles

An aspect of Iran’s culture and civilisation you’ve probably never heard about. Don’t be surprised if the US and Israel also try to bomb them. Jan ObergTFF director October 26, 2026 Today – under the “USraeli” threat of new “annihilating” bombings – opens the 7th International Conference on Peace and Conflict Resolution at Tehran’s University. As far as I can tell, this is the only permanent, advanced peace research institution in West Asia/the Middle East. Perhaps more countries in that region could be inspired? I mean, how many military “security” institutes and military academies do they have? Many peace research institutes and university departments have been established since the 1950s in the West. They are now all under attack; some have closed down, some have gone mainstream, yet others kept the name but do nothing to research peace and disseminate results or advice; instead, they cooperate with militarism’s platforms such...
Let’s discuss using AI to create peace – in contrast to boring geopolitics devoid of creative healing and visions. Jan Oberg TFF director October 15, 2026 I asked VEED to create a short video exemplifying how peace is preferable to war, then chose the lady as a template. Simple as that. In less than a minute, it produced this video, which any peace-loving person would appreciate. The only problem is that human intelligence (HI), at least the one that exists among Western decision-makers, isn’t half as moral or smart as AI. I have used AI to dialogue about peace and peace plans, creative conflict resolution and visions of a better future for humankind. It so happens that I am having more stimulating, intelligent, creative and moral discussions with AI than I could possibly have with any EU or NATO leader today. Yes, AI has very problematic and dangerous aspects; used...
Below are TFF-related media mentions, comments, videos and social media posts published elsewhere but not on this homepage. We happen to catch and list only a fraction. Regarding video comments and debates, we recommend that you go to the TFF Video Channel on Substack where many of them are reproduced. Jan Oberg is a contributor to China Daily – 52 million daily clicks – and Global Times, CGTN and CCTV (the national television), China Investment, Xinhua News Agency and several others. Articles and videos on these media very often multiply into countless Chinese (and Western media) that re-post them from these main media. Thanks to The China Academy, his analyses, interviews and comments are frequently posted on YouTube channels such as Thinkers Forum and Wave Media. These videos are often re-posted on Bilibili (China’s YouTube), the China Content Center on TikTok, and on the Chinese edition of TikTok, Douyin.com. This means reaching hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide over a year. While there are too many to catch on all these...

TFF on Substack

Discover and subscribe to more peace materials on TFF Substack

Most Popular

An aspect of Iran’s culture and civilisation you’ve probably never heard about. Don’t be surprised if the US and Israel also try to bomb them. Jan ObergTFF director October 26, 2026 Today – under the “USraeli” threat of new “annihilating” bombings – opens the 7th International Conference on Peace and Conflict Resolution at Tehran’s University. As far as I can tell, this is the only permanent, advanced peace research institution in West Asia/the Middle East. Perhaps more countries in that region could be inspired? I mean, how many military “security” institutes and military academies do they have? Many peace research institutes and university departments have been established since the 1950s in the West. They are now all under attack; some have closed down, some have gone mainstream, yet others kept the name but do nothing to research peace and disseminate results or advice; instead, they cooperate with militarism’s platforms such...
Let’s discuss using AI to create peace – in contrast to boring geopolitics devoid of creative healing and visions. Jan Oberg TFF director October 15, 2026 I asked VEED to create a short video exemplifying how peace is preferable to war, then chose the lady as a template. Simple as that. In less than a minute, it produced this video, which any peace-loving person would appreciate. The only problem is that human intelligence (HI), at least the one that exists among Western decision-makers, isn’t half as moral or smart as AI. I have used AI to dialogue about peace and peace plans, creative conflict resolution and visions of a better future for humankind. It so happens that I am having more stimulating, intelligent, creative and moral discussions with AI than I could possibly have with any EU or NATO leader today. Yes, AI has very problematic and dangerous aspects; used...
Below are TFF-related media mentions, comments, videos and social media posts published elsewhere but not on this homepage. We happen to catch and list only a fraction. Regarding video comments and debates, we recommend that you go to the TFF Video Channel on Substack where many of them are reproduced. Jan Oberg is a contributor to China Daily – 52 million daily clicks – and Global Times, CGTN and CCTV (the national television), China Investment, Xinhua News Agency and several others. Articles and videos on these media very often multiply into countless Chinese (and Western media) that re-post them from these main media. Thanks to The China Academy, his analyses, interviews and comments are frequently posted on YouTube channels such as Thinkers Forum and Wave Media. These videos are often re-posted on Bilibili (China’s YouTube), the China Content Center on TikTok, and on the Chinese edition of TikTok, Douyin.com. This means reaching hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide over a year. While there are too many to catch on all these...
Read More
Screenshot 2026-10-26 115647
An aspect of Iran’s culture and civilisation you’ve probably never heard about. Don’t be surprised if the US and Israel also try to bomb them. Jan ObergTFF director October 26, 2026 Today – under the “USraeli” threat of new “annihilating” bombings – opens the 7th International Conference on Peace and Conflict Resolution at Tehran’s University. As far as I can tell, this is the only permanent, advanced peace research institution in West Asia/the Middle East. Perhaps more countries in that region could be inspired? I mean, how many military “security” institutes and military academies do they have? Many peace research institutes and university departments have been established since the 1950s in the West. They are now all under attack; some have closed down, some have gone mainstream, yet others kept the name but do nothing to research peace and disseminate results or advice; instead, they cooperate with militarism’s platforms such...
Screenshot 2026-10-15 141837
Let’s discuss using AI to create peace – in contrast to boring geopolitics devoid of creative healing and visions. Jan Oberg TFF director October 15, 2026 I asked VEED to create a short video exemplifying how peace is preferable to war, then chose the lady as a template. Simple as that. In less than a minute, it produced this video, which any peace-loving person would appreciate. The only problem is that human intelligence (HI), at least the one that exists among Western decision-makers, isn’t half as moral or smart as AI. I have used AI to dialogue about peace and peace plans, creative conflict resolution and visions of a better future for humankind. It so happens that I am having more stimulating, intelligent, creative and moral discussions with AI than I could possibly have with any EU or NATO leader today. Yes, AI has very problematic and dangerous aspects; used...
girl-5894831_1280
Below are TFF-related media mentions, comments, videos and social media posts published elsewhere but not on this homepage. We happen to catch and list only a fraction. Regarding video comments and debates, we recommend that you go to the TFF Video Channel on Substack where many of them are reproduced. Jan Oberg is a contributor to China Daily – 52 million daily clicks – and Global Times, CGTN and CCTV (the national television), China Investment, Xinhua News Agency and several others. Articles and videos on these media very often multiply into countless Chinese (and Western media) that re-post them from these main media. Thanks to The China Academy, his analyses, interviews and comments are frequently posted on YouTube channels such as Thinkers Forum and Wave Media. These videos are often re-posted on Bilibili (China’s YouTube), the China Content Center on TikTok, and on the Chinese edition of TikTok, Douyin.com. This means reaching hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide over a year. While there are too many to catch on all these...
Nobel-Prize-Plaque
Jan Oberg TFF director October 13, 2026 According to Alfred Nobel’s will, the Nobel Peace Prize shall be awarded: ”to the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.” Further down, he also expresses how the prize for the “champions of peace” shall be decided: “that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be selected by the Norwegian Storting. Alfred Nobel’s will is remarkably short and clear. But few seem to have read it. Nobel did not say that the committee itself should consist of members of parliament. He entrusted the Storting with appointing five persons. In principle, it could have selected diplomats, mediators, peace researchers, conflict-resolution specialists, or other individuals with recognised expertise in matters of peace from around the world. Instead, the Storting gradually...
law-419057_1280
The Quest for Humane Survival Richard Falk Professor emeritus, Princeton UniversityTFF Associate since 1986October 12, 2026 After decades of teaching and writing about international law in academic frameworks that were not institutionally situated within law school environments—at Princeton and the University of California, Santa Barbara—I found myself most receptive to the TWAIL outlook. It has been especially illuminating in clarifying the extent to which international law evolved as a dialogical critique of Europe’s efforts to legitimize its colonial undertakings. In particular, TWAIL has exposed how international law has functioned to legalize the subjugation of Third World peoples, securing conditions for exploitative investment and trade relations, the coercive enforcement of public debts, and an ideology of cultural superiority. TWAIL’s exposure of these economic legacies of colonialism has influenced my understanding of the history and development of international law, broadly conceived, as an ideological project of the Western sub-system of the world...
images-2
Advocates of nuclear disarmament are regularly dismissed by the champions of nuclear deterrence as naïve and unrealistic, utopian or even irresponsible. Yet this ‘doctrine’ of deterrence, regarded by France as the ‘cornerstone’ of its national security, is based on quasi-religious beliefs, a theory that cannot be proven, risky gambles and fragile assumptions. So much so that one might legitimately ask which side the ‘Care Bears’ are on. Marc FinaudVice-President of Initiatives for Nuclear Disarmament (IDN) October 9, 2026 This article was originally published on Pressenza When it comes to these things being treated as religious concepts, look here. Idealists and realists It was Hubert Védrine, François Mitterrand’s former Foreign Minister, who repeatedly coined the phrase: ‘Europeans are a sort of Care Bears who don’t realise they’re living in Jurassic Park’. He applies this reference to the cartoon for well-behaved children not only to what he regards as weakness or idealism...